The Snow Goose by Paul Gallico. Part 3.
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The snow goose got better very quickly. By the middle of winter, she was able to walk about in the enclosure with the other birds. Fritha often walked to the lighthouse to see the Princess. At each visit her fear of Philip became less and less. She loved Philip’s story about this strange, white princess. He showed her a map of Canada, the goose’s home.
Then, one morning in June, the Princess left them.
Fritha was at the lighthouse at the time. She saw the great bird flying in wider and wider circles, up into the sky. Her white wings shone in the spring sun.
‘Look!’ Fritha shouted to Philip. ‘Look at the Princess! Is she leaving us?’
Philip came running from his painting. The snow goose got smaller and smaller in the sky, and finally disappeared.
‘Yes, the Princess is going home,’ he said quietly. ‘Listen, she’s saying goodbye.’
As they stood listening, the sad call of the snow goose came through the air.
Fritha did not come to the lighthouse after the snow goose left. Philip was alone again with his birds and his paintings.
That summer, from his memory, he painted a picture of a thin, untidy little girl with fair hair. The girl was carrying a big white bird.
It was October again and Philip was in the enclosure. He was feeding the birds that could not fly. The cold northeast wind and the noise from the sea made it hard to hear any other sounds. Suddenly Philip heard the high, clear call of a bird. He turned his head and looked into the sky.
At first he could only see something small. But as it came closer, it grew into the shape of a bird. While Philip watched, the bird flew round the lighthouse. Then it dropped into the enclosure. His eyes filled with tears. It was the snow goose!
Philip watched her walk round the enclosure.
‘She acts like a bird that’s never been away!’ he said to himself. But he did not understand. ‘How could she go all the way home to Canada and then come back here again?’ he thought. ‘Perhaps she spent the summer in Greenland. Then it was time to fly south again. She remembered our kindness and returned.’
Philip immediately thought of Fritha. He knew that he must tell her. So when he went to the village for food, he left a note at the post office. It said:
Tell Fritha (of the fishing people) that the Princess is back.
Three days later Fritha came to the lighthouse to visit the Lost Princess. The girl was taller but still untidy.
The years passed. On the Great Marsh very little changed. The sea continued to move in and out, and the birds came and went with the seasons. For Philip the coming and going of the snow goose showed the passing of time.
When the snow goose was at the lighthouse, Fritha visited Philip. She sailed with him in his boat and they caught birds for the enclosure. Fritha learned many things from Philip. He taught her everything about the wild birds that flew across the marshes. She learned how to get his paints ready. Sometimes she cooked a meal for him.
But when the snow goose left in the summer, Fritha did not come to the lighthouse. She did not feel that she could visit Philip. The bird was not there.
Then, one year, the Princess did not return. Philip was very sad and lonely. He spent all his time painting. He painted all winter and through the next summer. He did not see Fritha.
But in October he heard again the cry of the snow goose. And the beautiful white bird, bigger than before, dropped from the sky.
‘She came back!’ he said happily.
Philip went into the village immediately. As before, he left a note at the post office for Fritha.
This time it was a month before she came to the lighthouse. When he saw her, he was surprised. She was grown-up; she was not a child now.
From that time, the snow goose stayed at the lighthouse for longer and longer each year. She followed Philip everywhere outside. Sometimes she went into the lighthouse when he was working.
And so time passed…